The present invention relates to a piece of furniture having a stationary top as well as at least one leaf which is disposed about a bearing axis situated outside-the leaf contour and swivellable; by guiding devices on a stationary bearing point of the piece of furniture. The leaf is swivelled parallel to the stationary top, and vertically displaced about the bearing point between a rest position situated underneath the stationary top and an enlarging position aligned with the height of the top.
German Patent No. DE 4,207,743 Al shows a table which can be enlarged by a leaf which is disposed eccentrically on a table leg. The leaf is rigidly connected with a tube-shaped sleeve which is pushed onto the table leg and the lower front edge of which rests on a pin which projects radially away from the table leg. Along its circumference, the front edge has a helical curve whose slope is dimensioned such that, when the leaf is swivelled out of a rest position underneath the table top, it is vertically displaced into an enlarging position which is aligned with the table surface.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a piece of furniture which offers improved possibilities with respect to configuration and size.
This object has been achieved in that at least two leaves are provided which, in the rest position underneath the stationary top, are disposed in respective different planes in parallel above one another and have guiding devices with different slopes. Each leaf is held by a supporting element whose areas situated outside the leaf contour do not intersect the path of the movement of the at least one other leaf. A table, in particular, is provided as the piece of furniture. However, the present invention is also applicable to other pieces of furniture such as shelves, sideboards and the like. As a result, it becomes possible to provide one or more leaves for enlarging the stationary top which, in the enlarging position joined to the stationary top, are at the same level as the stationary top and are therefore aligned with the surface of the top.
It is an important advantage of the present invention that completely new dimensions are created for the enlarging of tops. The reason is that, by virtue of the arrangement of the leaves at different levels, leaves which are significantly enlarged in comparison to prior art can be provided and which, in the top view, overlap in the rest position under the stationary top. As a result, it is also possible to enlarge relatively wide tables along their full width by way of one-piece leaves. Because the leaves are disposed above one another, the extent of the enlargement of the stationary top is no longer, as was the case with conventional pieces of furniture, dependent on the overall length of the stationary top underneath which the leaves are disposed. The present invention permits even a short table to be enlarged to create a large surface.
As a result of the fact that the areas of the supporting element for holding the leaf, which project, in particular, on the underside and on the upper side of the leaf beyond the leaf contour, do not intersect the path of movement of the other leaf, the leaves can be guided past one another during their swivel movement without being blocked by projecting areas of the supporting element of the respective other leaf. Supporting arms, angles and other supports which reach over the leaf on its upper and lower side in a thickening manner are provided as supporting elements. A supporting arm which, for holding the leaf, projects radially thereunder, is therefore maximally dimensioned only so that its front face does not intersect the path of movement of the front contour of the other leaf. In the case of symmetrical tables and resulting leaves of equal sizes, the radial length of the supporting arm is therefore dimensioned to be less than the radius of the path of the movement of the other leaf.
In one embodiment of the invention, the two leaves are disposed one side of the stationary top. As a result, when the piece of furniture is arranged in a room, it is sufficient to provide a little more -space for the swivelling-out of the leaves on one side of the stationary top. This is particularly advantageous also when the piece of furniture is set up in proximity of a wall of the room because the piece of furniture does not have to be pushed away from the wall for the purpose of enlarging the stationary top.
According to a further feature of the present invention, the leaves are significantly thinner than the stationary top. As a result, it is possible to arrange the leaves in their rest position largely invisibly underneath the stationary top since, because of the small thickness of the leaves, the height of the space required for the storing underneath the stationary top is relatively low. It is therefore possible to keep the overall height of a table relatively low despite the storing of the leaves underneath the table top, and to nevertheless maintain sufficient space for the leg movements of persons sitting at the table.
Yet another feature of the present invention is that the leaf can be held on the support arm so that it can be height adjusted. As a result, it is possible to adjust the leaf relative to the stationary top in order to compensate tolerances which could lead to different heights of the leaf and the stationary top.
Still another feature of the invention provides that the guiding devices of the bearing point for a swivelling of the leaf are arranged directly in the area of the stationary top. Because of the arrangement of the guiding devices for the swivelling of the leaf directly in the area of the stationary top, this leaf, in contrast to conventional arrangements, must not necessarily be disposed on a table leg in order to achieve, by way of a sufficient guiding length, a secure tube-shaped bearing. The leaf must therefore no longer necessarily be placed on a leg which extends to the floor and which at the same times serves for supporting the stationary top. The leaf may therefore also be provided in the case of round tables which only have a supporting leg in the center.
In a further embodiment of the invention, the guiding devices are arranged in a cylindrical upper area of a supporting leg which supports the stationary top. Because the guiding devices are arranged in the upper area of the supporting leg, the remaining area of the support leg may be configured in any shape, for example, as a square profile or similar shape.
In a still further embodiment of the invention, the guiding devices are provided on a cylindrical bearing stump arranged on an underside of the stationary top. This stopper-type supporting stump can be mounted at arbitrary points on the underside of the stationary top and is used only for the bearing of the leaf and not, as with conventional arrangements, additionally as a supporting leg of the stationary top which is advantageous particularly for round tables.
The present invention also contemplates at least one connecting link guide and at least one sliding block engaging in this connecting link guide as the guiding devices and assigned to a stationary and a rotating bearing part of the bearing of the leaf. In this case, at least one part of the connecting link guide has a slope which corresponds to the ratio of the swivel angle and the height difference of the leaf between the rest position and the enlarging position. It is therefore possible in a simple manner to optimize the path of movement of the leaf when it is moved from the rest position into the enlarging position. By using a connecting link guide and a sliding block, a restricted guidance is achieved so that the height of the bearing sleeve for the bearing of the leaf is significantly reduced in comparison to known arrangements where the height of the tube sleeve was required for the guiding in order to ensure that the lower front edge is sufficiently pressed against the table leg pin and order to prevent a tilting of the leaf. It is particularly advantageous for the tilting stress onto the bearing point to be absorbed in several sliding blocks, preferably three, which are distributed along the circumference of the bearing part.
In yet another embodiment of the invention, in the enlarging position, the mutually facing edge area of the leaf and of the stationary top can be coupled with one another at a distance from the bearing point by a supporting device. As a result, the leaf, which is disposed in a corner area, is additionally supported in the enlarging position by the coupling with the stationary top, whereby a sufficient stability is achieved even in the case of larger leaves. A bending-through of the leaf when fairly heavy objects are placed at a distance from the bearing point is therefore avoided. Thus, even in the case of relatively wide stationary tops, leaves may be used which correspond to the width of the stationary top to improve the variation possibilities with respect to the shape and the size of the pieces of furniture.
According to another aspect of the invention, the supporting device is provided with a locking element for the locking of the stationary top and the leaf with respect to one another. Consequently, the leaf cannot be unintentionally swivelled back from the enlarging position to create a gap between the mutually facing edge areas of the stationary top and the leaf.
In still a further aspect of the present invention, the supporting device has two mutually corresponding connecting element, one of which is assigned to the edge area of the leaf and the other of which is assigned to the edge area of the stationary top. The elements are form-lockingly or non-positively connectable by the swivelling movement of the leaf into the enlarging position. As a result, the locking of the leaf on the stationary top takes place in a simple manner by way of the swivel movement of the leaf toward the stationary top so that additional manipulations are avoided.
In yet a further aspect of the invention, the supporting device has a stationarily disposed locking lever which can be swivelled in an oblique plane and which, during the swivel movement for the locking and support of the leaf on the underside of the leaf reaches behind a crescent-shaped locking plate in a tangential manner, the radius of the crescent being smaller than the swivel radius of the locking lever. It is advantageous in this embodiment that the locking lever during its swivel movement for supporting and locking the leaf reaches under the leaf and, as a result, already supports it vertically. During a further swivel movement, the locking lever pulls the leaf toward the stationary top and presses the leaf to the level aligned with the surface of the stationary top.